


What Could Have Been

by bitzygirl



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Book: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, Found Family, Multi, Nicodranas (Critical Role), Pirates, The Revelry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 18:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30110004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitzygirl/pseuds/bitzygirl
Summary: So the campaign I played in has been disbanded and the DM has no intention of running this specific campaign again, but I'm still really attached to my character and the bonds they had with the party and the NPCs. Therefore I'm picking up where we left off and writing my own ideas of how things might have progressed.
Relationships: Original D&D Character(s)/Original D&D Character(s)





	1. A Summary of What Happened Before

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter outlines the events that happened up to the campaign disbanding - important people, places, items, and happenings. It is broken up into the different arcs we explored in the order we encountered them, starting with the Session Zero arcs our DM gave us in small groups to get our characters acquainted with each other. The parts I will make up will start in the next chapter, picking up immediately following the end of the summary.
> 
> Note: this campaign takes place in Wildemount, but this is a world where the Mighty Nein do not exist. Therefore their influence on the world and other characters does not happen here like it does in Critical Role.

The Player Characters:

**Nosra Fisher (they/them):** Fire Genasi, Wild Magic Sorcerer, from Xhorhas

 **Greenmantle Comma Celeste (she/her):** Human, Open Hand Monk, from the Menagerie Coast *her name was the result of a clerical error on her birth certificate*

 **Aquilo Lykaios** **(he/him):** Winged Tiefling (blue), Oath of Vengeance Paladin, from the Menagerie Coast

 **Noah Casterlane (he/him):** Hollow One, Hexblade turned Fathomless Warlock, born in the Empire but defected to Xhorhas 

**Remy LaBesque (he/him):** Tiefling (blue), Glamour Bard turned Grave Cleric, from the Menagerie Coast

 **Luck (he/him):** Tiefling (pink), Druid *the player left early in the game, so this character was removed *

The NPCs (most are original, but some were pulled from Critical Role):

**Terra (she/her):** Cleric from Palma Flora who aided the party on the island, later reunited with her in Nicodranas; Human

 **Tifa (she/her):** Bartender from Nicodranas, monk of the Cobalt Soul, Aquilo's crush; Human

 **Three Earrings (she/her):** Captain of _The Wavechaser_ ; Tabaxi

 **Gates (he/him):** Quartermaster of _The Wavechaser_ , Celeste's employer & adopted father figure; Half-Orc

 **Talas (he/him):** Gates's husband, unofficial guard captain of the Open Quay in Nicodranas; Human

 **Harlow (she/her):** Glamour Bard and member of the Golden Grin secret society, Remy's mentor for bard talents; Eladrin

 **Scout (he/him):** Kenku child (8 years old) the party grew fond of on Palma Flora, stowed away on our ship after we dropped off the survivors of the massacre, now Celeste's adopted nephew

 **Argath (he/him):** One of several Sahuagin we battled in Palma Flora, only one we spared, given a new life on our ship to explore the world

 **Soren (he/him) & Soliel (she/her): **Water Genasi twins, work in navigation on _The Wavechaser_ by controlling the waves and currents, Soren is Remy's boyfriend

 **Chén Jiàn (he/him):** Trickery Cleric of Sehanine our party found captured on Uruk'axyl, traveled with us and acted as our healer until we parted ways in Nicodranas; High Elf

 **Azales (she/her):** Shaman-in-training of a Lizardfolk tribe on Uruk'axyl, aided us in our raid on the temple in exchange for us saving her; Lizardfolk

 **Remora (she/her) & Mjrn (he/him): **Half-Elf siblings (Remora is the elder) from Darktow, Remora is the Madam of the island's sex workers, Mjrn works as an agent of Yussa in Nicodranas

 **Dorian (he/him):** Owner and proprietor of The Devil's Gambit (a casino in Nicodranas with a semi-legal fighting ring in the basement); Tiefling (lavender)

 **Aela LaBesque (she/her) & Iobelia Azulian (she/her): **Remy's mothers, Golden Grin members, influential members in Nicodranas high society; both Tieflings

 **Red/To'ran (he/him):** Dorian's bodyguard and 10-year champion fighter, cursed by a hag to be an oni and forgot his original name (To'ran) for many years, Nosra's crush; Oni & Half-Orc when not in oni form

 **Le'lana (she/her):** Red's sister, kept captive by the hag who cursed him for many years, rescued by our party recently but humanoid form not restored; Dullahan

 **Minuit (she/her):** Aquilo's best friend who lived with him through childhood, member of the Golden Grin, left on a journey with another adventuring party recently; Tabaxi

 **Shalua (she/her):** Archivist and monk for the Cobalt Soul on Darktow, Celeste's crush; Human

 **Essek (he/him):** Just Essek from Critical Role, friend of Noah and his spouse; Drow

 **Morrigan (she/her):** Noah's mother, member of the Cerberus Assembly and a Scourger for the Empire

 **The Traveler (he/him):** Archfey that visited Nosra as a child and gifted them with sorcerer abilities, continues to visit them and cause mayhem together

 **Samson (he/him) & Luna (she/her): **Performers in a traveling circus (Luna is an Aasimar, Samson is a Devil Toad and Luna's guardian), joined the _Wavechaser_ crew when the circus ended

 **Adahy (they/them):** Noah's spouse who works in the Kryn Dynasty capital; Drow

 **Jamedi (he/him):** Our adventuring guide from Darktow; Hollow One

The Summaries

**\-- Session Zero Mini Arcs --**

Celeste and Luck meet on a luxury cruise (Celeste is a sailor, Luck is a passenger). The ship's owner Oberon has his son's body in the cargo hold, as the son died after becoming obsessed with a cursed orb thing. The corpse animates, kills Oberon, and turns him into a zombie husk. Celeste and Luck dispatch the husks. Soren, Soleil, and Gates are introduced.

Noah and Aquilo meet at a flying circus, where the ringmaster was murdered. They find the killer, the masked sword performer Mjrn, and learn that he killed the ringmaster because the ringmaster allowed him to lose his arm in an attack as a child. Mjrn is allowed to escape, and the pair pretend like they couldn't get to him in time. Mjrn, Samson, and Luna are introduced.

Remy and Nosra meet at a fancy party in Feolin at the Solvia Family Winery. Remy needs to investigate the family for Golden Grin reasons, and Nosra just wants to cause mayhem for rich people. They accidentally trash one of the daughters' rooms, take a private letter from the other daughter's room, bribe a waiter into keeping quiet, and sail away from a private cove before they get caught. No notable NPCs are introduced.

**\-- Palma Flora Arc --**

Everyone ends up in Palma Flora in time for the annual shark hunting festival. The local guard ask that nobody leaves because they are suspected of several things that happened in the Session Zero arcs, and the only way to clear their names is to wait for the island's cleric to return so she can speak to the corpses from the cruise and circus. The island had been plagued by nightmares and sleepless nights for a week, and the cleric went into the sewers to find the cause of it and hadn't returned. The group decided to go looking for her since they didn't want to wait around too long.

In the sewers, they fought some mutant shark creatures and corrosive oozes before finding the cleric, Terra, chained up in a cave. The cave was full of glowing crystals that showed you your happiest memories when you touched them, but as they traveled further into the cave the crystals became corrupted and showed you visions of Sahuagin people being killed during the Shark Hunting festival. In a fight with three Sahuagin and two more mutant sharks (who used to be people), the party killed all enemies except Argath, who begged for mercy. In an emotional moment of realization at what the festival had done to the Sahuagin way of life, the party disguised Argath and brought him to one of their rooms in the inn to feed him and patch him up. The island slept peacefully.

After the fight, the party met with Three Earrings and agreed to join her crew in exchange for passage to Darktow. Luck recruited Soren and Soleil to the crew, Nosra recruited Argath, and Noah recruited Samson and Luna. Celeste met with Gates, who was in prison as collateral to make sure the party didn't do anything stupid until Terra could clear their names, to ask about the golden orb and the likelihood that the ship would go to Darktow. Aquilo picked up some work helping Tifa at the bar and learned how to bartend. Terra later spoke with the corpses and cleared the circus and cruise crew of suspicion, and the winery crew spoke to one of the Solvia daughters who suspected them of malicious intent and cleared their names.

The night of the festival, everyone enjoyed the festivities in their own way until hordes of undead swarmed the island. Most buildings burned down, and about a third of the inhabitants made it to the _Wavechaser_ in time to evacuate. After the evacuations, the ship dropped all the refugees off on Brokenbank and headed for Darktow. Here, Scout the Kenku was discovered to still be on the ship, and he was promptly adopted.

**\-- Darktow Arc --**

The party spent their first few weeks at sea working on the ship, narrowly avoiding a terrible storm over Divers' Grave, and arrived safely in Darktow. The party was immediately brought before The Plank King, as none of them were part of the Revelry, and they had to swear to join the Revelry on threat of death. Gates was brought to the forefront and explained the mysterious orb, which was revealed to be a map that showed marked locations at Divers' Grave, the Gravid Archipelago, and Uruk'axyl. The party agreed to hunt down the treasure located at these markings and split the rewards with The Plank King. Celeste talked to Luck and Gates afterward about the fact that Celeste had been having strange dreams and vomiting sea water in her sleep. TPK asked Remy to report to him if the party did anything strange.

Nosra confronted Celeste and Luck about the orb and interrogated them about the connection it had to Palma Flora, then invited them to go check out a magic item shop later to cause some mayhem. Remy met Harlow and learned the ways of the Glamour Bard. Noah was informed about the specific things the orb does with the nightmares and mysterious messages, and he became one of the people who would hold onto the orb in alternating patterns. Aquilo once again took up work helping the bartender.

At the magic item shop, the shopkeep offered to give Nosra, Celeste, and Luck a discount on their purchases if they would do a job for him. They agreed, got the rest of the party, and went to retrieve a specimen from a ship. The specimen turned out to be a basilisk with an egg to protect, and they subdued the basilisk to bring both it and the egg to the shopkeep. While exploring the cargo hold, Luck found a mysterious cube with runes all over it, and upon touching it he ended up getting pulled into the cube with no apparent way of getting out. To figure out how to save him, Noah asked Harlow to send a message to Essek, who teleported to the island and took the cube to work on it. Nosra freaked out because they always looked up to Essek and got really excited about the idea of meeting him, and Noah realized that they were from Xhorhas like he was.

The party late decided to visit the first location on the map, Uruk'axyl, and went to the Cobalt Soul archive to research the area. Celeste was infatuated with the archivist Shalua and the two flirted over a bar fight, while The Plank King called Remy and interrogated him about the arrival of a mysterious person on the island. After being threatened with a Dragon Turtle, he admitted that Harlow called a friend of Noah's and the friend teleported. TPK called Harlow to speak to her, and the party left before learning the outcome of that interaction.

**\-- Uruk'axyl Arc --**

Upon arriving on the island, the group plus Jamedi explored the area and started heading for a temple in the center of the jungle. The trek was hot, humid, and plagued with bug bites. While walking through, the party came across a man in a cage suspended over a river. After freeing him, the man introduced himself as a cleric of Sehanine by the name of Chén Jiàn. He agreed to accompany the party to the temple and heal them in exchange for passage off of the island. Later, the party came across a stone structure, and as they investigated they witnessed a group of Yuan-Ti dispatching of a group of Lizardfolk and implying that the dead and incapacitated ones would be sacrificed. Inside the structure, Remy got covered in old slime while retrieving a flute made from a raptor voice box and Nosra marked down some sigils they found on the wall. During the first night, raptors attacked the camp. The party ended up killing most and scaring away the rest with a command from the flute.

During the second day, Remy fell sick from the bug bites and Chén Jiàn was knocked off a bridge by pterodactyls. Nosra jumped to save him without thinking through their plan, and Aquilo ended up having to face his fears of flying in order to save both of them. Later they encountered a Lizardfolk caught in a trap who was surrounded by raptors, and Remy scared them away with the flute. The Lizardfolk was grateful and introduced herself as Azales, a shaman-in-training for her tribe. After giving her the flute, she promised to help the party infiltrate the temple by providing a distraction. The party then snuck in to the Yuan-Ti village where the temple was located, got caught, and made a mad dash to the entrance while Azales called raptors to attack the village.

Inside the temple, the party battled a Yuan-Ti nightmare speaker and killed her. Toxic gases knocked out Jamedi, Remy, and Celeste while Nosra, Aquilo, Noah, and Chén Jiàn found a way to the lower floor. After carrying the unconscious party members down, the group came across a strange garden with a metallic tree and gem-like fruit. Noah and Nosra ate the fruit, hallucinated for a while, and spoke to the Betrayer God Zehir. Zehir taunted them with private information about each of the party members. After waking up, Celeste also ate the fruit to talk to Zehir, and he threatened Scout for her insolence. Going down to the final floor, the party fought against Evrae, the guardian of the Lizardfolk who had been captured and corrupted by the Yuan-Ti. After putting her out of her misery, the party discovered that the orb could be put into a recess in the floor to open portals to different places in the world, eventually discovering a portal to underwater treasure. The party retrieved the treasure, came out of the temple, and was escorted to the ship by the Lizardfolk tribe with a promise to write to Azales occasionally. Treasure was divided among the crew, and the ship headed for Nicodranas for some resources and relaxing shore leave. On the way out, the ship encountered the Dragon Turtle that guarded the reef and tricked it into following a bag of cannonballs instead of a bag of treasure.

**\-- Nicodranas Arc --**

The first day, Gates reunited with his husband Talas, the party minus Chén Jiàn went to a bath house and then the circus, and Aquilo invited everyone to stay at his house in the Opal Archways with Minuit (everyone except Celeste accepted, and she chose to sleep on the ship). The next day, Aquilo, Noah, Remy, and Minuit wanted to visit the Wildmother's Lighthouse and talk to the Marquis about the tensions between the city and Yussa. Remy was called away to his mothers' residence for tea, so only Aquilo, Noah, and Minuit went. At the Marquis's estate, they mentioned that they were present at Palma Flora, so they were invited to speak at a hearing to describe their experiences to members of the Clovis Concord and the Cerberus Assembly, followed by a charity gala for refugees of Palma Flora. In the meantime, Nosra and Celeste went shopping and drinking and were invited by Dorian to an underground fight ring at the Devil's Gambit.

The party met up and was allowed in to Yussa's tower, where Celeste's connection to the town of Greenmantle got the party an audience with the mage. The party learned, against Celeste's will, that her hometown was burned down (killing her family) and the fire was supposedly started in order for someone to bid on the land's resources for cheap. In exchange for that conversation, Yussa deciphered the runes that Nosra found on Uruk'axyl and declared them to be the mark of Scourgers, which Noah recognized as the same runes his mother had tattooed on her arms. Going drinking after that heavy conversation, Gates apologized to Celeste for dragging her into all the trouble with the orb (as he recommended her for the cruise ship job) and admitted he felt like she was a daughter to him, while Talas tasked the group with finding one of his informants who disappeared. Later that night, the group went to the fighting ring and was supposed to fight three rounds against monsters while trying to last as long as possible. After the second round, they discovered that the contact they needed to find, Mjrn, was made to fight against his will and was the only survivor of his group going into the third round. Nosra convinced Dorian to let Mjrn join their group so he could have a chance at surviving, and Dorian agreed as long as they fought the reigning champion. The champion turned out to be his bodyguard, the Half-Orc named Red, who turned out to be an oni. After a harrowing fight, Nosra struck the final blow to win, and the group was released with their winnings. Nosra invited Red to drinks as a show of good sportsmanship, and he accepted.

Over the next few days, Remy went on a date with Soren, a threat was made against the Marquis's life, Noah took everyone to the beach (where he discovered his mom was coming to the city), Aquilo treated Minuit to a spa day, and Nosra drank with Red and accepted a job because Red said he would put in a good word with Dorian for the group since they ticked him off so much. The group journeyed outside the city and into the forest to find the witch who was keeping Red's sister hostage. After a dangerous journey in which Red revealed he was of the Ki'nau people and then was taken from the group, Nosra, Remy, and Celeste all bargained something precious to release Red and his sister from the hag's clutches: Nosra gave up their ability to tell stories, Remy gave up his musical abilities, and Celeste gave up the last memento she had of her father. Red and his sister, now a dullahan with a flame for a head, were given back their names (To'ran and Le'lana, respectively), and the siblings returned to the Devil's Gambit for the night. The group all decided to go drinking after they returned to the city, where they said goodbye to Chén Jiàn before he left and gave him some money to help him on his journey. 

The day after (a day before the ship was meant to leave the city), Aquilo and Remy gave their experiences at Palma Flora at the hearing and ran into some of the Palma Flora refugees, including Tifa and Terra. In the meantime, Celeste and Noah accompanied Nosra to check in on Red and his sister, and the siblings talked about their experiences with Uk'otoa as part of their culture. Celeste showed them the orb map, and they talked about the possibility of safely getting the treasure at Divers' Grave. Before leaving, Nosra offered to keep in touch with Red through letters and challenged him to a one-on-one rematch fight the next time they visited, which he countered by wagering a date on the outcome. Remy and Aquilo helped everyone get dressed for the gala later that night, and while at the event the party decided to snoop around and listen in on rumors about the powerful people in the city. When the charity auction rolled around, Dorian invited everyone to a more exciting auction - a battle auction taking place on a hidden demiplane where bidders fought in an arena over magic items. The party secured three magic tattoos for Celeste, Noah, and Remy (who suddenly found he could cast Cleric spells), and won a battle for a mysterious staff that Dorian hired them to get. During the auction, Aquilo also informed the party that his Divine Sense picked up on fiendish energy around Dorian, to the party's dismay. After finishing the job, the party returned to the Material Plane beaten and battered, ready to leave the city.


	2. Leaving Nicodranas

Battered and bloody, strained and singed, the _Wavechaser_ crew returned to a pleased Dorian, who had just finished handing over the 49,003 gold pieces that won the mace. Turning from the autioneer with his prize in hand, he appraised the haggard group before him.

"Well it's certainly more than I'd hoped to pay, but you managed to stay within budget, and you were even able to get something nice for yourselves," he commented with a knowing look at the new tattoos on Remy and Celeste's arms and peeking over Noah's collar. "Didn't I tell you that this would be much more exciting than a boring old art auction?"

A low groan emanated from the group as a whole, everyone more than a little irritated that they technically couldn't argue with him. All at once, they had the same thought: _We really need to start asking more questions before we accept job offers._

With the final item won, the auctioneer thanked everyone for attending, and guests slowly began disappearing - presumably returning to their proper locations outside of this hidden demiplane. Following suit, Dorian led the group outside the manor and activated the charm that brought them back to the Material Plane. As they appeared outside the gates to the Marquis's manor, the lights of the Opal Archways danced around in dizzying arrays as colors reverted back to normal and bodies recovered from the feeling of being stretched and pulled like putty. The sensation was even worse after having been beaten up so thoroughly, and the nausea that threatened to overtake Celeste and Nosra the first time they traveled succeeded this time. As they threw up in the nearby bushes, Dorian said his goodbyes to the group, promising many more jobs in store for the future if they wanted, and walked off into the crowded streets.

Companions still retching, Remy turned to Noah and Aquilo. "Sooo, I think we should probably get some sleep for the night. I'll have to talk to my mamans, but I think I can convince them to let you guys keep the clothes you borrowed." Saying this, he gave a disdainful glance at Noah's frost-covered suit, Nosra's ballgown burned up to the knees, and Celeste's dress covered in blood splatters. 

Aquilo piped up in an exhausted tone, "Yeah, I'll probably go back to my place and see if I can fix this." Picking at his torn and bloodied suit, he continued, "Man, this was my favorite. And I didn't even get that amulet I wanted."

"No offense, but you weren't looking too hot after that first fight," Noah rebutted. "I'm kinda glad you and Nosra gave up on your items. I don't think you would've made it through another fight, even with the new healing stuff Remy can apparently do now." Saying that, he threw a curious glance at the former bard. "Speaking of which..."

At his questioning look, Remy just shrugged tiredly. "I was trying to cast my usual spells, and they just came out like that," he tried to explain. Suddenly alert as if realizing something, he quickly fished around in his pockets and pulled out what looked like a tarot card with one blank side. "That shopkeeper from Darktow was there, and he gave me this," he said, holding the card up for the other two to examine. "There was a drawing of the Wildmother on there earlier, but now it's gone. He said that it would keep changing until a decision was made, but I'm not really sure what he meant by that." Taking it back, he turned it over and saw the blank side was now decorated with the visage of the Raven Queen.

"Healing like that is usually something clerics do," Aquilo pointed out. "Which god do you worship? Wasn't it Reia?"

Remy shrugged again and replied, "I mean kinda. I'm not really super devoted to any one deity at the moment."

"Maybe that's the decision that needs to be made," Noah suggested.

Before he could consider the idea, the last two members of their group sauntered back, apparently in casual conversation about the benefits of not having long hair. "- no fuckin' idea why the bloke paid for passage if 'e knew 'e got seasick that easy, but not my place to tell someone how t' spend their money," Celeste was saying as the pair came within earshot. "Anyway, fella had puke in 'is hair pretty much every day o' that trip. Nasty business."

Everyone reunited, Remy once again suggested that everyone go about getting a good night's rest before they departed in the morning. After a chorus of exhausted agreement, Aquilo made his way back to his home while Remy led the rest back to his estate to return everyone's clothes. Relieved that neither of his mothers had returned from the gala (and therefore not needing to hastily explain the state of the borrowed clothing), he set about cleaning up and putting away the all the borrowed jewelry and shoes as his friends removed everything on them that wasn't ruined. Miraculously, the Cloak of Elvenkind Nosra had stowed under the folds of their dress hadn't been touched by the Fireball, and Celeste hadn't been hit with anything bad enough to affect the Rod of Retribution she snuck into her bodice. Once everyone had returned what they could and dressed in their casual clothes again, they all agreed to meet back at the ship just after dawn to make sure they finished all their departing preparations.

As they left the Azulian-LaBesque estate, Noah turned to Nosra and Celeste and asked, "Are you both okay? I mean like actually okay. I know you took a buncha hits Celeste, and Nosra you actually went down twice there at the end."

Cracking her neck a couple of times, the monk responded, "Yeah, I feel like I went a couple o' rounds with that giant snake lady again. Nothin' a good sleep won't fix." Turning back to him, she asked, "What about you? One minute you're there, next you're gone. And when you came back, you looked like Hell frozen over."

Rubbing at his arm to alleviate the phantom chill the memory brought, he responded, "Yeah, I think I'll be alright. To be honest, I felt worse at the party when I had to dance with my mom. I thought for sure she was gonna see through my disguise and expose me at any minute."

"Pretty sure she _did_ see through it. We all saw 'er poke your face where your nose didn't fit."

"You know what I mean." Looking over at the third in their little group, he said, "Everything alright, Nosra? You're bein' awfully quiet."

As if they suddenly realized they were being addressed, the genasi shook themself out of their thoughts and replied. "Physically, I could do with a night's rest. Even with Remy's help, I'm a bit more crispy than I prefer to be." Sensing more to the story, their companions looked at them expectantly until they continued, "My magic felt... off. During those fights."

Celeste looked them over for a moment before replying, "I didn't see anything weird. You did your fancy blasting thing, you shot some fire, and you put a tidal wave on everyone to end the fight. Seems pretty standard to me."

Sighing in frustration, they tried to explain, "Yeah I _did_ it, but I didn't _feel_ it. Not like I usually do. Normally there's this spark of inspiration that lets me be fancy and showy with my spells, but tonight I just felt..." They paused to search for the right word, finally settling on, "dull. Empty. Bored. I could enjoy the effects afterward, but in the moment I just felt hollow." They sighed again. "I guess the gala wore me out more than I expected, but hopefully it's nothing some sleep won't fix."

They kept up the idle chatter a while longer before they had to part ways, Nosra and Noah making their way to the Lykaios house and Celeste heading down to her room on the ship. 

The pair entered the house to the faint sound of Aquilo moving around in his room, distant footfalls and the soft clanking of armor and weapons echoing through the empty corridors. Giving each other a brief "goodnight," they went to their respective rooms to settle down in anticipation of a long day ahead.

As Celeste stepped onto the deck of the _Wavechaser_ , she felt the steadiness that had been missing earlier return to her legs. "She should see me dance on a ship, my legs just weren't made for marble floors," she muttered as she marched below deck, still irked at her disastrous attempt at dancing in the manor. As she made her way to her cabin and swung the door open, she was greeted with the sight of Scout curled up on her bed, clutching a stuffed animal that looked way too new for him to have had before this stop. Carefully lifting him up, she felt his little body squirm and adjust in her hold while she climbed under the blanket. A little gold eye peeked open, and he let out a happy little trill at seeing her again. "Hey there Nugget," she whispered as she gently ruffled his feathers, "you enjoy your vacation here?" Nodding sleepily, he proudly held up the stuffed animal, which Celeste could barely make out as a fish of some kind through the darkness. "That's real nice, kiddo. Glad you had fun." With that, she settled down for a deep sleep, soothed by the rocking of the ship and the small feathery body curled up against her.

**********

The next morning found everyone on the _Wavechaser_ , loading crates and organizing inventory and catching up with the rest of the crew on how they spent their shore leave. Soren greeted Remy with a peck on the cheek as Soleil rolled her eyes, and Aquilo barely had time to organize a way to write to Tifa (who had come to the docks to see him off) before Gates pulled him away and put him to work. Talas watched his husband with a mixture of pride and sorrow on his face, which was replaced with gentle fondness when Gates embraced him after giving his workload to Aquilo. Below deck, Noah listened to an animated Luna talk about the circus in the city as he helped her stock the infirmary, Samson occasionally chiming in with a grunt when he brought more supplies, and Nosra was signing rapidly with Argath as they checked over the ship's kitchen and the inventory of ingredients the ship was now stocked with. The sun was a bit higher over the horizon when Mjrn appeared, Celeste directing him to put his stuff in the crew quarters in between shouting other orders.

After hours of preparations, the sun was high in the clear blue sky by the time Three Earrings declared the ship ready to set sail. Crew members quickly descended to the dock to embrace their land-bound friends and loved ones once more, and more than a fair share of eyes returned to the ship brimming with unshed tears. Finally, under the captain's orders, the ship pulled out of port and lurched toward the open ocean. Standing over the deck and looking down at her crew, Three Earrings announced, "Mister Gates, we have our heading! Set a course for Greenmantle!"


End file.
